JavaScriptProgrammer'sReference

An area in the browser frame that status messages can be presented in.

When browsers open a new window, they will have a status line at the bottom (unless you choose to deactivate the status line).

This can have text messages presented to tell the user what is happening. One particularly popular usage is to present rollover text messages associated with links.

There are two property values on each window that control the content of this status line.

The defaultStatus property contains the text that is displayed when the mouse is not rolled over an active item.

The status property is set to a specific value by an onMouseOver event handler and resets when the mouse leaves.

Warnings:

The correct behavior is for the onMouseOver event handler to override the default behavior and replace the text in the status bar. Then, when the mouse rolls off of the active item, the defaultStatus value should be restored automatically.

This is not the case with all browsers. Macintosh and X-Windows versions of Netscape 3 (and possibly other browser versions) do not automatically restore the previous status line value. You will need to add a onMouseOut handler to explicitly reset the status line.